Gus G Says Being Ozzy Osbourne’s Guitarist Was ‘Dead End’ Job

Former Ozzy Osbourne guitarist Gus G said it was “a little bit of a relief” to be replaced by the returning Zakk Wylde last year, and admitted he felt like working with Osbourne was a “dead end.”

Wylde, who’d been ousted in favor of G in 2009, was called back up to take part in Osbourne’s farewell tour, which runs until 2020. “I cried myself to sleep for two months,” G laughed when asked by TrueMetal.it about his feelings on the change.

“Honestly, it was a little bit of a relief, because I was just kind of tired of waiting around for all these years, not hearing anything," he said. "Of course, he was very busy with Black Sabbath, I understand that, but … in between all of that there were these one-off shows popping up, and I had to make myself available for all that, but there was never any … I didn’t see stuff coming up for the future, you know?"

Still, G stressed that he “loved” being a member of Osbourne’s band. “In a way, it was a little bit of a dead end for me, speaking personally," he explained. "Of course, now he’s gonna go on a big tour again, do his farewell thing and … that’s great for him, but it wasn’t a creative thing for me.”

Asked about how he had been told that he would have time to himself during Sabbath’s farewell tour, G replied, “There was never any definite announcement … it was always like, ‘We’ll see what happens.’ That’s a bit of uncertainty right there, and I have my own band, I had stuff to do, but I could never really book stuff too far ahead into the future just in case something came up. It was really hard to get some info at some point.”

He emphasized his respect and appreciation for Osbourne. “I didn’t expect that he would be such a down-to-earth guy, so normal compared to his size, to how big he is as an artist, the big lifestyle, the big machinery around him," he said. "He was a very simple man, actually.”